Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stirring device and a gear train. In particular, it relates to a stirring device including a hollow gear and a hollow gear train.
Description of the Related Art
Commercial available stirring devices have several categories, such as magnetic stirrers, vibration stirrers, and the like, which used for stirring the solution or reagent, and accelerating solute to dissolve into the solution or preventing solidification.
The magnetic stirrer is a lab apparatus used for stirring liquids by a magnetic stirrer rotating rapidly, thereby stirring the solution. Since most chemical reactions could be conducted in a glass beaker, and the material, such as glass, does not shield the magnetic field, the stirrer could work out in the glass beaker. Also, since the stirrer is limited in sizes (the stirrer has various types and sizes), the disadvantage of the stirrer is that it was merely applied in relatively smaller experiments (the solution volume is smaller than 4 liter). However, when it applies in a big volume solution and a viscosity liquid, the magnetic device cannot exhibit good performance, and a conventional mechanical stirring device is needed. In addition, the stirring device was usually used in the open type biological or chemical solutions. If the stirrer is contaminated, the biological or chemical reaction may be possibly contaminated.
In addition, the magnetic force could be applied in an automatic magnetic bead operation platform; one of the core skill of the automatic magnetic bead operation platform is attracting the magnetic bead by a magnet. In other words, the permanent magnet or an electromagnet stick was utilized to insert into a stirring tube, such that the magnetic beads are absorbed on the outside wall of the stirring tube that the magnetic pole end of the magnet is located. For analysis, the specimen amount less than 32 at one operation, there are many different types of magnetic devices spread through the market. However, if the amount of specimen is increased, the volume of the apparatus does not meet the needs in the experiment. Moreover, if too many specimens are operated in the limited space, the problem of cross contamination is hard to avoid.
In addition, the mechanism of the stirring device with vibration is performed by transferring the voltage vibration into the piezoelectric ceramic transducer with mechanical vibration, which could be applied in the biological or chemical analysis steps including immobilization, washing, and interaction. The structure of the stirring device with vibration comprises a vibration unit for controlling vibration frequency, a driving part vibrated by the vibration unit, and a stirring unit connected with and driven by the driving part. More than one stirring sticks were set in the stirring unit, and the vibration unit was allowed to generate the specific frequency, such that the speed of stirring and reaction could be increased by the stirring unit driven by the driving part and concisely controlling the vibration frequency, vibration amplitude, and vibration time. However, air may enter into the sample set forth in the stirring device when vibrating, and results in contamination.
Thus, one kind of stirring device for the biological and chemical reaction with high throughput sample analysis and no contamination is need.